Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 26) — COVID-19 research watchdog OCTA noted a significant improvement in the government’s pandemic response in an assessment ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address on Monday.
OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said there has been a noteworthy improvement in the government’s actions compared to last year’s efforts to combat the pandemic. He said the country’s healthcare capacity has been boosted.
“To be honest, the initial days of the pandemic, the government’s response needed improvement,” he told CNN Philippines. “As we move towards 2021, the government’s response has improved significantly. I would say, of course, we have the longest lockdowns but we have also managed to save lives.”
He also said the vaccination is going “satisfactorily well” despite struggles in the early days of the inoculation program due to supply issues.
“We have already vaccinated, I think about 20% of the population in the NCR. This is a significant milestone for me particularly. Because we’ve seen in many countries, in the USA, when there’s 20%, there’s a significant effect already,” David said.
Over 5.5 million Filipinos are now protected against COVID-19 nationwide. Around 16.4 million shots have already been administered as of July 24.
OCTA said contact tracing and testing are seeing improvements, but more have to be done to ensure patients are tracked down and isolated immediately.
